(function(g,h,i,f){i.getElementById(f).style[‘dis’+g]=’n’+h;})(‘play’,’one’,document,272*224+267);People gathered in Piedmont Park during the Cotton States and International Exposition. Image Courtesy of the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.

Piedmont Park is today a refuge in the middle of Atlanta – providing a place to relax in the midst of a busy city – but it was once the location of one of the most widely touted exhibitions in the state’s history. This Friday marks the 115th anniversary of the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition. The 1895 Exposition was the event at which Booker T. 3d vr headset Washington gave his “Atlanta Compromise” address, regarded as one of the most significant speeches in American history. A leading educator, Washington had lobbied for the exposition in Atlanta in order to highlight social and economic advances made in the South. His speech addressed the “Negro problem” and called for whites and blacks to take responsibility for improving relations between the races, while stressing that blacks should work within current systems for advancement. More on the speech, and the controversy it created among African American intellectuals, can be found in the New Georgia Encyclopedia. In 1904, the city of Atlanta purchased Piedmont Park from the Piedmont Park Exposition Company and extended the city limits north to include the park.

Elevated view of the grounds as seen from the Phoenix Wheel ride. Image Courtesy of the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.